Thanks again for the peeps who have reviewed. Please keep them coming coz you're the ones who inspire me to keep on writingbr

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Kurtbr

It took nearly an hour just to get inside because there was such a huge queue at the main door to get in. When we did I was near to burning up. Wearing jeans, a woollen top, boots and thick foundation when your not used to it is really uncomfortable. Not to mention it makes you sweat like crazy. I became so dehydrated that halfway through the show Holly had to go and get some bottles of water. Only thing is is that I drank both my own bottle and hers. She acted as if she didn't mind but I decided to make it up to her after the show. The show. Now that was wonderful. Watching the three clowns juggle and dance about brought back memories of the dear friends that I had left behind in Munich. Watching the dancers and acrobats made me long for the sight of the tents and carriages again. Holly must have noticed that I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on on stage anymore and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.br

"So. Did you enjoy it?" she said as we left the theatre. It was absolutely freezing and there was frost forming on the sidewalks.br

I thought for a moment, trying to decided if it was the play I had enjoyed or Holly's company, "Yes, I very much enjoyed it. Zhank you." She smiled one of her beautiful smiles and started to hail a cab.br

"No. Valk down zhe street vith me and I vill teleport us back. Much quicker than a cab stuck in traffic and a lot cheaper." She giggled as I put her arm in mine and began to walk, nearly dragging her, down the street until there was not a person in sight. Once we had stepped into an alleyway I put my arms around her. I didn't expect that she would put her arms around my waist and pull me into a hug. But once I had gotten over the shock I ported us to her front door step. She gave me a tight squeeze before she let go to open her door and when she was about half way through it I said, "Vhy did you put your arms around me?"br

She seemed to blush for a second, "Well to anyone who was passing the alleyway, they would think that we were star-crossed lovers and not that you were taking me home. Also, I was really cold." She seemed ashamed at the last part and I just couldn't help but laugh.br

"It is alright. I did not mind. It vas just a little surprise that's all." I began to go down the steps when Holly grabbed onto the fabric of my coat, stopping me from going anywhere.br

"If you think your going back to that drafty old church on a freezing night like this then you has another thing coming mister. You're going to sleep on the fold out couch in the living room tonight." Holly was determined not to let me go back. And she was right, it was very cold and I could use their shower to get the foundation off, which by that time was dull and because of the fact that I was sweating a lot in the theatre was now turning into a thick, gooey paste. I nodded and stepped inside, which was very dark. Amdy had obviously had gotten tired and gone to her bed.br

Holly told me that I could go and have a shower but that I would have to be very quiet as the man called Corin can get very cranky and irritable when he's woken up at 1 in the morning. While I had a shower to get off the gunk that had once been carefully applied makeup Holly made up my bed in her living room. I left Corin's clothes folded by the bathroom door and changed into my normal clothes. I felt much better in my own clothes and especially with no shoes on as they tend to restrict and hurt my feet.br

When I came downstairs again I could hear Holly in the kitchen and the sound of the T.V turned down low. Holly came out of the kitchen and flopped down into an armchair. We sat in silence for a little while but I just had to ask a question that had been gnawing at my brain all day.br

"Vhy do you treat me as if I vere human?" Holly looked at me, her face said what? But her eyes said what a silly question. Eventually she smiled sleepily.br

"Well. When I was in high school in Ireland there was a girl at my school. She seemed normal but one day when we were at the local swimming pool, now it was a school BBQ and everyone was there. She was in a two-piece and lying out in the sun reading a book on her own. Then one of the guys who was a cruel bastard, picked her up and held her over the water. Now this girl was terrified of going in the water but when she was little she had been a fantastic swimmer.br

So here she was kicking and screaming trying to get away, I mean the poor girl was crying begging him not to drop her in. And he just let her go. When she got out of the water everyone saw that she had gills that showed up when she got wet. She was a mutant. She got bullied really bad and on the night of the prom she got up on stage and shot herself in front of all the teachers and students right into her mouth, through her brain. So she got her own back by ruining the most important night of her bullies young lives and giving them an image that would haunt their dreams for the rest of their lives. Ever since then I've been against the hatred towards mutants. Amdy and I believe that mutants are just the next step in our evolution and that it's for the best. I've worked with lots of little kids who are mutants and are sunned by society and their parents. Did you know that in Glasgow in Scotland last year 10 mutant children were beaten to death or tortured by youths who hadn't a clue what they were doing and only hated mutants because their parents had taught them to."br

I sat in silence, unsure of what to say, shocked at what she had told me, "I treat you as if you are human Kurt because that is how I see you. Human. You are no different than anyone else. I want you to have something Kurt that my mother gave to me when I was a little girl and her mother gave it to her." She took a thin silver band from her finger, put it in the palm of my hand and closed my hand around it, "My mother said that when a lepracon (just say it how it is spelled coz I don't know hoe to spell it so just say it as lep-ra-con) sees a young maid that he likes, then that night he will put a silver ring in her home, and if she puts it on, then she will become his bride, best friend and wife for the rest of eternity. So in Ireland lots of guys give silver rings to their girlfriends when they ask them to marry them, best friends give them to each other as a sign of their ever lasting friendships and mothers give them to their daughters to ward off the lepracons," we both giggled at this, "so this small sliver ring such as this one represents for us, hopefully, an ever lasting friendship." She smiled at me and said good night, planting a small kiss on my cheek as she left.br

I got into my bed for the night, the ring still in my palm. I unhooked my prayer beads from my belt and looped it through the now hot metal so that it hung beside the small silver cross. Now every time I prayed, I would think of Holly and remember the things she had told me.br

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Hollybr

I was woken up in the morning by a soft knock at the door. When I said for whomever it was to come in I saw Amdy open the door for Kurt who was holding a tray. He had a smile that could only be described as that of a cheeky little schoolboy who had been looking up girls' skirts. I had to fight off a vision of Kurt in a school uniform, under a school table looking up girls' skirts and snickering.br

"Guten Morgan mein liebchen(this may not be the right spelling but I've lost the bit of paper that I had German words written on so if I've spelt anything wrong please tell me)." I had no idea what he said and looked to Amdy for a translation. She mouthed behind Kurt, "Good morning my sweetheart."br

I blushed, "Good morning Kurt, Amdy." Amdy touched Kurt's shoulder and went downstairs for her breakfast while Kurt came in, shutting the door behind him and placed the tray on my desk that was littered with children's health files. He picked one of them up and looked at the little boy's picture on the front. This gave me the chance to study him in the daylight. He was very tall when he wasn't crouching down and was a proud figure of a man. I watched him as his tail swished back and forth in the manner of a content cat in front of a fire. I think he noticed that I was looking at him because he brought his tail up and made it look as if it was looking at me and had a mind of its own.br

He set the file down and brought the tray over to me and set it down on my lap, "I made you breakfast as a zhank you for last night." His smile was so sweet at this point I just wanted to hug him real tight, which I did. When I let him go we started talking about what he would do next while I ate my wonderful breakfast of poached eggs, toast with jam and a very strong cup of coffee. Kurt tried once to steal a piece of toast from my plate but I slapped away his hand (which landed in jammy toast) and put my arms around my plate possessively.br

I did eventually get up and out of bed, but only because Kurt dragged me out from under my covers, carried me to the bathroom, put me in the shower and turned on the cold water. While I was still in my PJ's! I screamed and laughed at the same time as the ice water ran down my back, shocking my senses. Kurt was laughing uncontrollably until I unhooked the shower head and began to soak him. What this sounded like to Amdy and Corin I have no idea, but it couldn't have been good.br

Once we had both dried off we went down stairs and found that there was no sign of Amdy or Corin but there was a note on the counter:br

Dear Holly and Kurtbr

We are both off to work even though it is a Sunday. Please tell Kurt that I have left you my credit card so you can buy some of the basic essentials for him.br

Have a good day you two!br

Lovebr

Amdy and Corinbr

Kurt came into the kitchen looking as if he was all ready to go somewhere. "I better go now. I vant to pray at zhe church for most of zhe day and night." He looked sad and like he didn't want to go but he had to.br

I took my American Express card from my purse and handed it to him, "I want you to take it. There's $10,000 in it. Also take this," I wrote my phone number down on a bit of paper, "this is my cell-phone number. I'm going to a conference for a week about if it's a good idea to let mutant kids into nurseries. I want you to use the money until I get back. Please tell me that you will? No, don't tell me, promise me."br

He looked at the credit card in his hand, looked at me and shook his head, placing it back in my hand, "I cannot take diz mein freund. It iz a kind gesture but I cannot take it from you. Anyway vhat vould I spend it all on?" I just looked him square in the eye and then placed the card in his pocket, "Well.take it anyway. It would make me feel a lot better if I knew you had money to buy stuff until I come back."br

He sighed then chuckled under his breath and he looked me in the eye and smiled. Then there was that familiar smoke and smell of rotten eggs.

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Kurtbr

It was freezing in the church when I finally got back even though the sun streamed in through the stained glass windows. The minute I stepped through the door I could tell that something was not right. The place had a quietness about it that it had never had before. I sensed that I was not the only one there. I was right, I hate that.br

I heard the fire of a gun as a tranquilizer dart went into my arm. I had no time to act as I don't even remember hitting the floor.